


Gentle

by tinysith



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Angst, Angst and Feels, Borderlands 3 Spoilers, Borderlands: Borderlands 3, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Comfort/Angst, Cross-Post, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Canon, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:47:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29670939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinysith/pseuds/tinysith
Summary: Sylvia is a rare individual known as a Siren, with extraordinary abilities. Like every other Siren before her, Sylvia is drawn to Pandora where everything she thinks she knows about the planet is put to the test after kids she knew from her childhood show up with insane demands and a God complex. Sylvia must team up with the Vault hunters to put a stop to the Calypso twins reign of terror while also questioning everything she thought she understood when old feelings get involved and puts her mission in danger.
Relationships: Troy Calypso/Original Character(s), Troy Calypso/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	1. siren's song

**Author's Note:**

> Just a warning, this story will deviate a little bit away from canon at times. Some instances are changed to fit the story as well! This is the first story I've ever posted here but not the first fanfic I've ever written but pls be kind lol Thank you for reading!  
> Also in case anyone used Quotev, this story was also cross posted onto my Quotev account so if you see it posted there at all, that is me c:

_– twenty two years ago –_

  
A sudden shriek erupts from the previously quiet room and then a gasp of air, followed by the quiet, relieved sobs of a brand new mother. The newborn is cut from its mother and swept away to be cleaned up before being handed back over. The woman laid helplessly in bed, silent tears streaming down her already tear stained, flushed cheeks. Eleven hours she had spent in labor – she was so tired, her body was screaming, her thighs felt like they were burning from the inside out and her body was covered from head to toe in sticky sweat. The woman's soft pink eyes gazed upon the face of her child from across the room, their eyes were squeezed closed and they were crying but to her, they were perfect – they were beautiful.

“Would you like to meet your daughter?” The man carrying the baby over asks gently, the mother nods weakly but eagerly, lifting the blanket slightly from her chest so he could lay her against her skin.

“My daughter,” The woman whispers in awe, staring in amazement down at her little girl. She glances up at her husband who also had tears welling up in his eyes as he watches the two most important girls in his life before him. He leans down to place a soft kiss against his wife’s sticky forehead and then stares in awe down at his daughter who had quieted down shortly after being placed on her mothers chest. Her little eyes peeped open, they were still dark and unfortunately, they wouldn’t know her true eye color for a few months – however, judging by the little amount of pastel pink hair hair atop her fragile head that matched her mother’s, he just knew she was going to be the spitting image of his wife and he couldn’t wait to see the beautiful woman she grew up to be.

“Do you have a name picked out yet?” The man that delivered their daughter asks gently, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth as he stares ahead at the new family.

“Sylvia.” Sylvia’s mother speaks clearly, a tired smile beaming down at her quiet child who was lying peacefully, her head rested above her mother’s heart, her eyes were droopy as she fought off sleep.

“That sounds perfect.” Sylvia’s father agrees, carefully bringing his index finger to his daughter’s small hand that was curled into a tiny fist and he gently rubs the soft skin on the top of her small hand.

  
*** * ***

  
A now three year old Sylvia carefully and quietly walks through the living room of her home, her shoulder length pastel pink hair was hanging down in two tiny little pigtails, her father was away, Sylvia didn’t know where her dad went almost every day, at the same time – Sylvia didn’t quite understand the concept of having a job just yet as she was only three years old now. She was very smart for her age but of course there were things she couldn’t grasp just yet but she would eventually. Sylvia was now talking, very short sentences and sometimes they didn’t quite make sense but her parents were proud nonetheless. She was growing up so fast and learning so many new things, she was walking before she was a year old, she said her first words shortly after. It was amazing to see her go from a tiny, helpless being to being a little person that was walking and talking, slowly learning to feed herself. It made Sylvia’s mom get teary eyed every time she thought about the future in which her daughter no longer needed her. She hoped that Sylvia knew that her mother would be here for her for whatever, whenever. She wanted her daughter to know that she was safe to come to her about anything at all.

Sylvia’s little eyebrows knit together as she struggles to grab hold of the television remote that was sitting on one of the couch cushions just barely out of her reach. Her lips pressed together in concentration as she stretches her little arm as far as she could to reach the remote, her tiny fingertips graze against the cool plastic but she can’t seem to grasp it and is growing more frustrated with every failed attempt at a swipe at the device. Her top lip ever so slightly curls, slightly exposing one of her tiny teeth, her faint brows were pushed together in frustration and she begins to make quiet grunting sounds whilst trying to jump up to get herself onto the couch. Alas, the couch was too high up off the ground for her to be able to pull herself up onto it – warm tears begin to prick the corners of her eyes and the remote was still out of reach, if anything, she’s knocked it back a little further with every failed attempt to grab it so far and now, now she was mad.

Finally fed up, Sylvia starts crying, her cries progressively getting louder – her arm still stretched out, reaching for the remote that was still stuck up on the couch. Sylvia hears her mom shuffling around upstairs, most likely coming to her daughters attention after having heard her begin to cry. Sylvia is full on wailing now, but not because she couldn’t reach the remote anymore, now, her skin was burning and beginning to glow in odd patterns down her arm that was outstretched for the remote and she didn’t understand why. Some invisible force knocks her backwards and she drops to the floor on her butt, her arm still stretched out and glowing a gentle pink, she’s screaming in both pain and confusion when her mom rushes into the living room already cooing at her daughter and trying to console her before she even fully see’s what the problem is. Sylvia’s mom sucks in a shocked gasp and she carefully grabs her daughter's arm, examining the glowy pattern dancing across her delicate skin, she stares at it in confusion when she hears the back door open – her husband was home from work, thank goodness.

“Honey? Please come in here!” Sylvia’s mom announces urgently, hoping her husband doesn’t waste any time in coming to their daughter’s aid.

“Rosalyn?” Sylvia’s father calls back, entering the living room. “What’s going– oh my god.” Sylvia’s father was at her and her mother’s sides almost in an instant. “What happened?” He questions, eyeing the sky blue pattern seemingly permanently painted across his daughter’s skin like a tattoo. 

“I have no idea, I was upstairs putting away her laundry when she must have snuck downstairs without me hearing and I swear, I only took my eyes off her for a minute and next thing I know, I hear her screaming bloody murder down here so I ran down the steps and found her,” Rosalyn had tears streaking down her reddend face. “Her arm was glowing and–and,”

“She’s a Siren.” Sylvia’s father states, examining his daughter’s arm. Her cries had died down and she was merely hiccupping and sniffling at this point. Rosalyn held her baby girl a little tighter as she kissed the top of her head. Rosalyn didn’t know much about the Siren race but she did know that they were rare individuals with incredible power and worst of all – extremely sought after to be used and abused. “I need to call Typhon over,” Sylvia’s father says, rising to his feet and heading towards the kitchen.

“What– why?” Rosalyn blurts, her heart beginning to race yet again, she scoops her daughter up and holds her as she stands up to follow her husband into the kitchen where she found him, his echo communicator in hand. “Derrick, why do you need to call Typhon? What could he possibly–” Derrick cuts her off with just his gaze, he was serious but trying to keep his features kind so he didn’t startle her.

“His twins,” He starts, glancing down at his echo communicator for a brief second. “Both of them are Sirens.” A gentle gasp leaves Rosalyn’s lips, her pink eyes widening in disbelief. Not only was her daughter a Siren, but there were two others also inhabiting this planet. Rosalyn’s stomach began to churn, she had a terrible feeling about this.

“He was also a Vault Hunter many years ago, babe, remember? He’s done some studies on the Siren’s, his wife Leda was a Siren and he also has two Siren kids of his own, maybe he can help.” Derrick stares up at his wife almost with pleading eyes. As if begging her, silently, to let him call for help. Derrick would never put their daughter in danger, but he worked alongside Typhon and has known him for years and trusted the man with his life– therefore, he trusted him to help his daughter in any way that he possibly could.

Rosalyn sighs, defeated. She hoped her husband knew what he was doing, Rosalyn wondered if she’d ever be able to forgive him if any harm came to their daughter over this. Rosalyn would much rather move back to her home planet, Pandora– and fight off bandits and skags to protect her daughter, than a strange man she doesn’t even know coming into her home and making her daughter uncomfortable. Rosalyn nods her head, giving her husband silent approval to get this Typhon guy involved, her eyes drop to the floor and she carries their daughter back into the living room.

When Typhon DeLeon arrived at their home, Rosalyn was extremely protective of Sylvia, not wanting him to get too close, despite him also having Siren children – those of which he did bring along with him to try easing Rosalyn’s nerves. The twins were only about two years older than Sylvia, putting them at around five. Both of the twins had strange markings similar to Sylvia’s, however, Tyreen’s were blue, like Sylvia’s and Troy’s were scarlet red. Typhon’s daughter, Tyreen, was bold and bratty Rosalyn thought; she seemed to have no interest whatsoever in meeting new people or listening to a word her father said. She was only five yet acted like an adult that lived a very busy life, almost like she had absolutely no time for anything, Tyreen spent the entire visit outside seemingly torturing bugs. His son, Troy, was quiet and attached to his father’s hip. Tyreen seemed very bossy towards Troy, trying to force him outside to play with the bugs with her; Rosalyn felt kind of bad for the boy. Troy was also missing an arm, Typhon explained that the twins were once conjoined, Tyreen’s Siren abilities seemed to have been trying to consume her brother, thus conjoining the two and causing Troy to be weaker than his sister but that also seemed to be the reasoning behind Troy’s Siren appearance. Troy’s eyes were locked with the floor but Rosalyn noticed the occasional glances up he made towards her and Sylvia who was laying in her mother’s lap, hiding her marked arm beneath her small body and sucking on her free thumb; her tired eyes lazily gazing over at the curious looking boy.

  
*** * ***

  
As the kids grew older, both Typhon and Sylvia’s parents could see that they were all getting tired of being stuck inside so Typhon started allowing the twins out to play with Sylvia, though Tyreen took advantage of the fact that her father was not watching over her like a hawk and took the opportunity to be mean to Sylvia only because she felt like it, was tired of only having Troy to talk too and pick on and because Troy never joined in on her instigating sessions. It always irritated Tyreen that he would stick up for Sylvia, and she also hated when he would state that their mother would not approve of this type of behavior, to which Tyreen would retort that he never knew their mother and couldn’t decide what she would and wouldn’t approve of. The kids’ playdates usually ended with Sylvia in tears, hiding in her backyard beneath the slide of the small playground her father built and Troy being scolded by his sister for going to make sure Sylvia was okay. The kids’ parents didn’t think too much of the bickering, they were kids and kids fight one second and are best friends the next though they always made sure to remind them that no abilities are to be used without parental supervision.

Sylvia had been told to cover her Siren markings around Tyreen to avoid Tyreen finding out that she was also a Siren – unfortunately, Typhon learned that Tyreen’s power was to leech the lifesource of others, thus realizing that it was almost definitely Tyreen that killed his wife, Leda, after she gave birth. It crushed Typhon but he loved his kids regardless and knew that Leda would want him to continue looking after them and guiding them as they matured. Sylvia often wore turtlenecks of different thicknesses depending on the weather, pants that covered her legs and a fingerless glove on her right hand to hide the markings that had appeared on the back of her hand as well. As Sylvia grew, her markings also grew with her and by the time she was eight, her current age, her right side was covered in the pale blue Siren markings from head to toe, thankfully she didn’t seem to possess any markings across her face that would give her status away. Typhon was obviously aware that Sylvia was a Siren but kept that secret from his children to protect her from any harm that they could cause, not that he thought they would purposely hurt her, he just wanted to be sure and Sylvia and her parents understood.

It was the twins’ tenth birthday and Tyreen made the day all about her, of course, stealing their father’s attention. Sylvia had made both of the twins a birthday card and of course, Tyreen scoffed at it and walked off without even reading it while Troy was a little more appreciative; he even apologized on his sister’s behalf thought Sylvia always waved him off, claiming it wasn’t his job to clean up his sister’s messes and that she needed to take responsibility for being mean one day or else it would come back and bite her. Troy had then decided to go hang out with Sylvia for a while instead of spending the rest of the day holed up in the house with his sister.

“Did you wish for anything special?” Sylvia asks Troy as he stands behind her, pushing her on the swingset in her backyard. Troy’s thick eyebrows push together in confusion as he gives her another push.

“Wish for anything special? How do you mean?” He questions curiously, fidgeting with the zipper of his jacket in between him pushing Sylvia.

“Did you guys not have cake for your birthday?” Sylvia questions and motions for him to stop pushing her with a nod of her head – Troy places his hand against her back to help slow her down so she could hop off the swing.

“Yeah, but Tyreen said since she’s the oldest, she got the wish on our candles.” Troy chuckled as his friend came to a complete halt and bounced off the swing. She spins around, her waist length bubblegum pink hair whipping in the gentle breeze, the facial expression she held made Troy snort, he had never seen her look so offended before.

“It’s your birthday too, Troy, you get a wish too.” Sylvia sighed, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket and dragging him along towards the back door of her house. Rosalyn was taking a nap but told Sylvia to wake her if she had any problems or needed help and Derrick was at work with the twins’ dad, Typhon, as usual.

“It’s not a big deal, wishes are kinda lame anyway.” Another dramatic gasp left Sylvia’s mouth and she shot him a glare.

“Well you can’t let Tyreen have it all, it’s your day too.” Sylvia states matter-of-factly, pulling Troy into her kitchen where she then begins digging through one of the many drawers filled with useless junk her dad can’t seem to part with and her mom is too afraid of what she might find in them at this point. After digging through two separate drawers as quietly as she could to not wake her sleeping mother who was in the next room, Sylvia finally found exactly what she was looking for. A gently used candle in the shape of the number six, from Sylvia’s sixth birthday, obviously.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Troy questions her with a cocked eyebrow.

“Letting you make a birthday wish.” Sylvia says pulling out a small, worn out box of matches, god knows how old these things were – and she hoped they still lit, otherwise she would look quite silly.

“Be careful with that, I don’t think you have a fire extinguisher in here.” Troy teases and Sylvia scoffs with a roll of her eyes before striking the match against the side of the box. A small flame springs to life and she slowly brings it to the wick of the used candle and holds it in place for a moment before she sees the candle come to life before her eyes. Sylvia wiggles happily and holds the candle towards Troy who jumps back quickly, his eyes squinting at her and the candle. “You tryna kill me on my own birthday?” He jokes, leaning his side against the doorframe. 

“I don’t think I’m the only one.” Sylvia giggles softly and gently wiggles the candle at him. “It’s starting to get hot, make a wish already.” Sylvia pleads calmly and glances up at the taller boy. Her fingers slightly adjusted down the base of the candle as the wax became warmer and warmer.

“Alright, okay,” Troy huffs gently, finally giving into the younger girl, before closing his eyes momentarily, then reopening them and quickly blowing out the tiny flame. Sylvia carefully sticks the candle on an empty plate and jumps up and down a few times, clapping her hands as softly and quietly as she possibly could.

“Yay!” She cheers and Troy chuckles and rolls his eyes. He didn’t understand why she was so adamant about making sure he got to wish on a silly candle but he decided to go with it rather than being mean about it because his sister was mean enough to her as is. “What did you wish for?” She asks as the two step back outside onto her small porch that was shaded from the sun by the awning her father built a few years back.

Troy scoffed jokingly, pretending to be offended now with a smirk plastered across his mouth. “I thought I’m not supposed to tell anyone what I wished for or else my wish wouldn’t come true?” Sylvia huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and knitting her brows together.

“Tyreen is going around gloating about how she wished to be Queen of all the galaxies.” Sylvia states with a pout. Troy shrugs and shakes his head subtly.

“My sister is something else.” He mumbles, his gaze shifting up to the sky that was slowly shifting into several shades of pink and orange as evening was fast approaching. “I should probably start heading home, actually.” Troy says suddenly starting to feel sick while stepping off the porch a little too quickly, causing himself to stumble a bit and then proceeding to get his sleeve caught on the chain link fence Derrick had installed around the backyard. Troy hisses in pain as his arm and sleeve are caught on the fence and Sylvia quickly rushes to his aid, carefully getting the sleeve of his jacket unstuck from the fence. She’s muttering apologies under her breath as Troy raises his arm to make his jacket sleeve pull up towards his shoulder, exposing his tanned skin with his red Siren markings scattered across his arm.

“You’re bleeding,” Sylvia sighs after catching a glimpse of the cut on Troy’s upper bicep. She frowns, as he tries to shake her off. “Let me help, please.” She pleads gently, reaching for the sleeve of his zip-up jacket.

“It’s not a big deal, don’t worry about it. It ain’t your fault. I’ll just–” Troy goes to drop his sleeve back down but Sylvia quickly grabs his wrist with her left hand and hovers her gloved right hand over the opened wound. Troy’s brows pushed together in confusion as his eyes shifted between staring at her concentrated face and her hand. He didn’t quite understand what she was doing or trying to do anyway. He watches as her tongue peaks out between her lips and he gives his arm another gentle tug to try getting out of her grasp when suddenly, the pain in his bicep was gone and Sylvia releases his arm. His eyes widen slightly and he shifts his gaze to his bicep where he once felt a stinging pain– it was gone, the cut was gone, it was healed. His eyes squinted slightly as his head rose back up to face Sylvia who was breathing a little heavier than before, her rose colored eyes staring up at him, her hands were visibly trembling. She was in shock that she just did that, she was shocked she was able to focus enough to be _able_ to do it.

Sylvia stays quiet but grabs the sleeve of her turtleneck and slowly lifts it up, revealing the sky blue Siren markings that painted her arm to him. Her lips were pursed together and she watches his eyes slowly widen as he comes to realization as to what exactly he was looking at. His pale blue eyes glance up at her face once again and she drops her sleeve. The silence was thick between the two of them and it was starting to make Sylvia feel a little uneasy, she was wondering if she was going to regret revealing her little secret to him. Her heart began to pound against her ribcage and she bit down softly on her bottom lip.

“Please don’t tell her.” Was all Sylvia mustered the courage to say, hoping Troy understood that she was referring to Tyreen, before going back to chewing on her bottom lip and hiding her hands in the sleeves of her shirt. Troy also felt uneasy, but his uneasiness was for another reason, he really needed to get home; he had been away for too long. He just nods his head slightly, Sylvia barely noticed the reaction and with that, Troy was off heading back towards his home.


	2. nekrotafeyo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is a little longer than the first chapter. I'm not entirely sure how consistent the chapter lengths will be just yet but I'm trying to get back into writing after taking like a 5 year break :b I hope you guys enjoy! ♥

Rosalyn had come to learn that one day, she was going to lose her daughter sooner than she had hoped and was having a hard time coming to terms with it. Due to the Siren’s ties with the Vaults, naturally, all Siren’s are eventually drawn to the dangerous planet of Pandora – and that scares Rosalyn to her very core. To think about her daughter one day setting off to Pandora on her own with no plans stressed Rosalyn out, she wanted to be there for her daughter, she wanted to go with her but knew that was most likely not a possibility. Especially not with Sylvia spending so much time with DeLeon’s son; Rosalyn was terrified of them running away together and Rosalyn couldn’t seem to tell which she feared the most, Sylvia running off to Pandora on her own, or running off to Pandora with Troy. She partially blames Typhon and her husband Derrick for filling the kids’ heads with all of these stories of hunting for the Vaults, Derrick had never actually gone Vault hunting, he only assisted in mechanical work which is how he met Typhon and also Rosalyn many moons ago.

Derrick was once a mechanic that worked on many ships over the years, Derrick met so many people over the course of the years in his position until he came across a woman, desperate to get out of her current living situation and Derrick was there to protect her from the things she was running from. The two eventually moved to Promethea where Derrick continued working as a mechanic for dozens of different vehicle types for a few years before the two married. After a few years on Promethea, Derrick came home one night and told Rosalyn many stories about this man named Typhon who was supposedly one of those Vault Hunters she heard about in passing. She never understood those people and why they were constantly on the move and searching for loot that could possibly not even be real.

Anyway, as the years went on, this Typhon character was brought up a lot until Derrick finally took Rosalyn to meet him and Typhon’s new girlfriend Leda. Leda ended up being a Siren and the two seemed madly in love, it was kind of cute, Rosalyn would admit. Typhon would then go on and on about his discoveries as a Vault Hunter over dinner, explaining that he had visited many planets all over the galaxy and had seen so much in such a short span of time. He had it all logged in echo logs too he promised to show Derrick when they had a chance. When Typhon offered Derrick incredible amounts of money to be his personal mechanic for his ship he wanted built, Rosalyn was elated that they would be able to afford to move out of their tiny apartment in the middle of the busy city planet of Promethea and move somewhere on the outskirts where it’s a little quieter but still close enough to Derrick’s workplace and other necessities. Rosalyn was getting the most excited about this news because this meant that maybe Derrick would finally agree to starting a family like Rosalyn had wanted for a while. Rosalyn began to search for houses in the area of her dreams and everything seemed to be going great for her and her husband...

However, Rosalyn’s heart shattered the day Derrick came home from work, announcing that they were moving – but not to where Rosalyn had thought. Typhon DeLeon had both Leda and Derrick stuck on this idea of traveling to find a missing planet, the planet that once was supposedly the homeworld for the ancient Eridian civilization. Derrick and Rosalyn fought about this idea for weeks leading up to the night before their supposed departure; Rosalyn and Derrick were doing just fine on Promethea, they were getting by and were happy, at least that’s what Rosalyn thought. Over the course of their relationship, Rosalyn uncovered Derrick’s deep desire to become a Vault Hunter himself, this idea of his only grew stronger when he befriended Typhon who was a Vault Hunter and was living Derrick’s idea of a perfect life. Rosalyn hated it. She hated the idea of constantly moving around, never being able to settle in one spot for too long because they may find a lead that would bring them closer to a Vault on a totally different planet. Rosalyn wanted to settle down in their own house and have children, she was ready to be a mother and thought Derrick understood this.

Despite her feelings towards the situation, Rosalyn wanted her husband to be happy and to follow his dreams so she reluctantly agreed to going wherever Typhon told them to go, Leda was ecstatic to have another woman coming along with them to talk with – though Rosalyn knew she and Leda had very little in common. Derrick promised that wherever they went, he was going to give her the family she always dreamed of and she held him to that promise.

To her surprise, Typhon was able to find the missing planet rather quickly, of course the group had run into some troubles along the way, ship repairs were needed in between the planets they stayed on briefly, but soon enough, the group found themselves standing on the missing planet of Nekrotafeyo. Rosalyn almost couldn’t believe it and it definitely took a few days of her waking up on this new planet for her to finally allow herself to believe that this was actually real. The group were able to use older buildings that looked like houses to shape into their dream homes, to Rosalyn’s relief, they were also quite far away from one another so she didn’t have to deal with them being next door neighbors – thank god. Not even two full months into living on this new planet, Leda announced that she was expecting which took Typhon away from Derrick for a bit, Rosalyn was very thankful for that. Unfortunately, there weren’t really any hospitals or doctors around for her to easily go for any of those checkups pregnant women usually went too, so eventually Derrick had to make sure Typhon’s ship was in perfect condition so he was able to take her to the closest planet to make sure everything was progressing smoothly during her pregnancy. 

Leda ended up giving birth to twins in their home and then suddenly passed away shortly after. Rosalyn felt her heart break for Typhon and their two brand new babies that were then motherless. Rosalyn at one point had offered to help Typhon in any way she could with his babies but he kindly rejected the help, swearing he was able to handle it on his own. Typhon seemed to do pretty well on his own, however. Rosalyn often wondered if being on a planet like Promethea would have been a better option for Leda to survive through childbirth or if she still would have passed. Rosalyn and Derrick had finally gotten their bearings on this new planet and soon enough, they were also trying to conceive, however Rosalyn was a little scared she may suffer the same fate as Leda. Derrick had gone on a supply run at some point and gathered many items needed for a newborn, much like Typhon had done for Leda, their home definitely felt like home after adding much needed furnishings to it and after Rosalyn was finally able to decorate properly. About two years after they made Nekrotafeyo their home, Rosalyn was finally pregnant with the baby she had always dreamed of; Derrick did take her to the closest planet to monitor her pregnancy but Rosalyn opted out of finding out what she was having, wanting it to be a surprise.

Nine month later, Rosalyn gave birth to their beautiful baby girl, Sylvia; although she would probably never admit it verbally, Rosalyn was so relieved that Typhon was there to assist during her labor, she was a terrified new mother and of course Typhon understood and he wanted to make sure she didn’t suffer the same fate as his late wife. He was happy to help and was happy to see that Rosalyn seemed to have a smooth delivery.

Rosalyn was standing at the kitchen sink, she was leaning forward against the cool surface and gazing from the window outside to where her daughter was sitting outside beneath the large tree in their backyard with Typhon’s son, Troy. The two of them were laughing and Sylvia kept pointing up to the sky and then the two seemed to giggle some more. Sylvia was leaned into Troy’s side, his left arm was wrapped around her, his silver prosthetic shining in the sunlight, making a small smile tug at Rosalyn’s lips. She remembered Typhon and Derrick teaming up to make that for Troy and how happy he was when receiving it. Though she also remembered Tyreen teasing him about it and it crushed Rosalyn to see Sylvia get upset about that. Rosalyn wondered if Tyreen would have turned out differently had her mother still been alive, however, Tyreen always refused to speak with Rosalyn when she reached out to her. Tyreen was very set in her ways and nobody could seem to talk her out of doing something when she put her mind to it. Rosalyn remembers waking up one day and being confused because the eldest twin suddenly had platinum hair when her hair was jet black the day before. 

Sylvia rested her head against Troy’s shoulder and Rosalyn turned her eyes away from the two, going back to scrubbing the dishes in the sink. It was so hard for Rosalyn to believe that her daughter was eighteen now when she still remembered her birth so vividly like it happened yesterday. She remembered Sylvia taking her first steps, saying her first word, getting her first tooth. It crushed her to know just how fast time actually goes and how fast kids grow up and she was terrified of Troy being Sylvia’s first heartbreak, she could just feel it coming. Rosalyn had caught wind of Tyreen wanting to leave the planet one day and had become obsessed with learning everything there was to know about the ship Typhon and Leda, Rosalyn and Derrick arrived on and she was interested in fixing it up but never could give a legitimate reason as to why she wanted to see it fixed up other than “to see it in all its glory”. Rosalyn thought it was a little suspicious and feared that Troy would go along with her whenever she decided to up and leave as they need each other… and Sylvia was either going to also go along with them or Troy was going to leave her behind; either way, it hurt Rosalyn to know that one day her baby girl was going to be in pain and she deserved better than that.

Of course it was silly for Rosalyn to hope that maybe Sylvia wouldn’t be hurt by this, as neither she nor Troy had ever confirmed they were in any sort of relationship to anyone, as far as Rosalyn was aware, they had never kissed or anything before either. But the two were very obviously close and had been for a while and there was no denying that. Sighing, Rosalyn’s eyes shifted up to take one last glance at her daughter before she twisted the handle of the sink and shut off the water.

“C’mon,” Troy says, shimmying Sylvia off his arm and pushing himself off the ground. Sylvia glances up at him, confusion present in her eyes. “I wanna show you something.” Sylvia then pushed herself up off the ground as well and followed closely behind the much taller boy.

The two eventually found themselves at the landing site where their parents had reached Nekrotafeyo many, many years ago. Typhon’s ship was still standing here, looking in better condition than it was in the last time Sylvia had seen it; it looked like they were working on it again, making it nicer. Sylvia twisted the end of one of the braids her rosy pink colored hair was pulled into, she wasn’t quite sure why Troy was showing her the ship again, she had already seen it dozens of times before, she knew what it looked like but she didn’t ask any questions right away.

“So remember how I told you one day, we were gonna get off this wasteland of a planet?” Troy chuckles breathily, taking a few more steps ahead of her and gently placing the palm of his hand against the cool metal of his father’s ship.

“Yeah?” Sylvia nods her head gently, crossing her arms over her chest and watching his movements. “You and Tyreen have both said that quite a lot for a while now.” She adds, glancing up at the deep purple evening sky.

“What if I told you, it was sooner than you think?” Troy questions, arching one of his eyebrows and shooting Sylvia a small smirk. Sylvia turns her attention back to the tall man in front of her with questioning eyes. “It’s finished.” Troy states and Sylvia smiles widely.

“You did it?” She asks excitedly, stepping closer towards him.

“Yeah, Tyreen and I are leaving tonight.” Sylvia’s smile faltered immediately. Tonight? So soon? She knew the twins wanted off Nekrotafeyo but didn’t realize that it was going to happen so suddenly and so soon.

“Do you guys even have any plans? Do you know where you’re going?” Sylvia asks, crossing her arms a little looser this time and shifting her weight to one of her legs as she slightly leaned. Troy chuckled with a casual shake of his head.

“Not really, but we’ll figure it out on the way, I guess. Ty mentioned a planet called Pandora, I think that’s the plan.” Sylvia swallowed the small lump forming in her throat and released a gentle sigh before her rose colored eyes met his piercing blue ones once again. “What? Are you not excited?” Troy’s smirk falls into a frown. “I want you to come too.” Troy steps closer to her.

“I don’t know if I can, at least not on such short notice.” Sylvia says quietly, her eyes shifting to the ground and she nervously kicked at the dirt beneath her feet.

“Sylvie,” Troy mumbles her nickname and gently reaches for her hands with his own, carefully bringing them closer. “You’ve wanted this just as much as Ty and I, why are you getting cold feet now that we’re finally free?”

Sylvia frowns faintly; she wouldn’t say it to his face in fear up striking a nerve, but unlike the twins, Sylvia had a great relationship with both of her parents and quite honestly, was terrified of leaving them behind and something happening to them – even though the planet is seemingly deserted. But Sylvia’s heart was also telling her to go, there were more opportunities out there for her and she wasn’t going to live her life to the fullest by staying on a planet where her only friends would be leaving her behind and she would only have her parents to talk too until the day comes where they too would pass; what would happen then? Sylvia was scared of ending up alone on this planet.

“Hey,” Troy murmured, his left hand reaching for her chin and tilting her head up slightly to meet her eyes. “You’re gonna be okay.” He offers her a small smile and then cups her cheek with his hand that held her chin. Sylvia exhales a short breath and softly leans her face into his hand, her eyes close briefly. 

“I just… this place is all I know, I don’t think I’d even know how to act somewhere else. I’ve also never been anywhere without either of my parents with me.” Sylvia says quietly, dragging her bottom lip between her teeth and biting down softly. “I’m just scared, I guess.” Troy brings his right arm up to cup the other side of Sylvia’s face, the cool sting of the metal against her warm skin sent chills down her spine but a small smile pulled at her mouth anyway.

“Please come with me?” Troy pleads quietly, their faces inching closer and closer to each other.

Sylvia nods gently before their lips collide, her hands then snake their way up Troy’s arms and rest against the back of his neck. The kiss was short and sweet, but was interrupted when the door to Typhon’s ship flung open with a loud CLANG when it swung against the side of the ship – out came a very pissed off looking Tyreen.

“Alright, I’ve heard enough.” She hisses and the two quickly jumped apart, Sylvia’s face burning a bright red and she tried to hide in her oversized hoodie that actually belonged to Troy. “What the hell is going on here?” Her striking blue eyes glaring daggers at both her brother and Sylvia. She was disgusted at Troy for allowing himself to get as involved as he was with Sylvia; Tyreen was convinced she was going to ruin everything they had worked towards.

“It’s nothing, Ty, what were you doing in there?” Troy barks, standing straighter, his thick eyebrows pushed together in annoyance and confusion.

Sylvia repeated Troy saying it’s nothing in her head a couple of times and – ouch – she felt a sting in her chest. It’s nothing. Did it mean nothing? Did she mean nothing to him? She was beginning to feel embarrassed for ever thinking there was something there between them.

“I was making sure everything was in order for us to get the hell off this planet tonight and then I heard you coming – I thought you were gonna, I dunno, offer some help maybe, but then I look to see you two getting freaky just out in the open.” Tyreen scoffs, shifting her glare fully onto Sylvia who was doing everything in her power not to run home in tears.

“We weren’t,” Troy growls, visibly irritated with his sister's dramatics. “I was telling her how the ship is ready to go.” Troy defended himself, his arms crossing over one another. Tyreen fake laughs in his face.

“Was that before or after you guys were making out?” She taunts, stepping away from her brother and walking in Sylvia’s direction. Troy goes to grab her arm to keep her from Sylvia but Tyreen slipped past him. “Listen here, whether you come or not, Troy and I are leaving this place, got it? There’s nothing here for us and there’s nothing here for you either but I couldn’t care less if you joined us or not. Stay here with your mommy and daddy for all I care.” Sylvia tries to speak up but Tyreen shuts her up real quick.

“But don’t you _dare_ try talking Troy out of going, he _needs_ me, if you weren’t already aware, without me, he dies. ‘Kay? Cool.” Tyreen puts on the fakest of fake smiles and bumps Sylvia’s shoulder as she struts past her. “Come on, Troy, we need to finish packing before dad figures out we’re leaving.” Tyreen beckons for Troy to follow her without even looking at him. Troy’s face showed conflicting emotions. Both he and Sylvia knew that unfortunately, due to their complicated birth, Troy did in fact need Tyreen to survive, despite their fathers best efforts to allow Troy to live separately from his sister.

“She’s right,” Sylvia starts and Troy makes an attempt to intervene but Sylvia doesn’t allow him. “You need to go, even if I don’t. I know you’re unhappy here and you have dreams and goals that won’t come to you if you stay.” Troy huffs, throwing his hands into the air in frustration.

“Would you guys let me make my own decisions for once?!” He groans, running one of his hands through his messy black locks. “Obviously, I have to go with Ty; but I also want you to come too, please? At least give it some thought? We’re gonna leave before the sun rises tonight.”

“I’ll think about it.” Sylvia gives in, knowing damn well this was probably the last time she would ever see him again.

“Awesome,” Troy cracks a smile at her that just made Sylvia sad. “Meet us here tonight, okay?” Sylvia nods her head gently before Troy pats her shoulder and rushes off to catch up with Tyreen.

Sylvia turns around and watches the two fade off into the distance and makes no effort to stop the single tear that slowly streaks down her cheek. She wished things were different, she wished they had more time. She understood why they wanted off the planet so bad but she couldn’t seem to understand why Tyreen was being so pushy about it. Why did they have to decide right this second and leave in a few hours? It hurt. Sylvia took a shaky breath and started on her short trek home.

When she arrived home, her face was flushed, her eyes were puffy and her nose was red from the constant wiping. She tried to quietly enter the back door of her home but didn’t realize that both of her parents were sitting in the kitchen, apparently awaiting her return. Sylvia frowned at this and said nothing as she shut and locked the door behind her. Neither of her parents said a word but were visibly relieved to see their daughter return home. Sylvia silently steps over to the kitchen counter, reaches for a glass and pours herself a cup of water. She takes a few quiet sips and can’t bring herself to make any sort of eye contact with her parents who had taken notice of her rosy cheeks, puffy eyes and red nose. They could read that something happened but weren’t going to bombard her with questions until she felt that she was ready to talk.

“I’m okay,” Sylvia croaks softly and is quick to clear her throat before repeating herself. “I’m okay.” Sylvia confirms before slipping out of her shoes. Slyvia finally finds the courage within herself to make eye contact with her parents, but the moment she does, her eyes welled up with tears once more and she choked on a small sob.

Rosalyn was quick to spring to her feet and engulf her daughter with a tight hug. Derrick frowns slightly as Sylvia sobs into her moms shoulder, her whole body shaking as she was overcome with her emotions. Derrick places a kiss against the top of her head and rubs her back soothingly. Rosalyn whispered reassurances to her daughter who wept into her shoulder. She knew this day would one day come, but of course nothing could prepare anyone for heartbreak. Rosalyn just held her daughter until she felt okay enough to pull away.

“I’m gonna go lay down for a while.” Sylvia sniffled and her mom nods and rubs her daughters shoulders. 

“That’s okay, baby, go and do whatever you need, okay? And just know that both your father and I are here if you need anything at all.” Sylvia nods her head and drags herself upstairs to her room, closing the door behind her. She was so annoyed with herself for breaking down in front of her parents, she thought she had cried herself out on the walk home, but apparently not.

Sighing, Sylvia throws herself into her bed and lands face first into her pillows. The smell of Troy lingering on his hoodie and brought tears to her eyes yet again which made her groan into the pillows and kick her feet against the soft mattress. Turning on her side, Sylvia’s mind went back to the kiss she shared with the younger twin, her heart jumped thinking about it, she had almost forgotten it had even happened. Obviously, being the only children on Nekrotafeyo, the twins and Sylvia had basically grown up together, the twins were wary of her at first, mostly Tyreen, but Troy eventually stopped letting his sister control everything he did and started talking to Sylvia when they were pretty young, thus forming this bond they shared now. Over the years, Sylvia had naturally developed some sort of crush on Troy but never went out of her way to overstep boundaries, she never wanted to put their friendship in danger by trying anything with him. But over time, Troy and Sylvia had gotten closer, Troy tried including her in almost everything he did, he constantly let her borrow his hoodies – at one point she literally had all but one of his hoodies. Troy even helped teach her how to drive, which was more fun than Sylvia would ever admit to her father because Troy would take her to an open part of the planet quite a ways away from their homes and Troy _totally_ didn’t teach her how to drift around corners and do donuts or anything. Chuckling softly at the memory, Sylvia found herself relaxing into the warmth of her bed and drifting off to sleep without realizing she had.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Sylvia was startled awake by the rattling of her windows. Her heart suddenly felt like it was going to shoot out of her chest, she gasped hard enough she nearly winded herself and she all but fell out of bed. She rushes to her window where way out into the distance, she could see Typhon’s ship thrusting towards the sky. Sylvia looks at her alarm clock with wide eyes – they were leaving earlier than she thought.

_“No, no, no, no,”_ Sylvia pleaded under her breath, rushing down the stairs and slipping on her shoes as quickly as she could. “Please, please, no.” At this point both Rosalyn and Derrick were rushing down the steps as Sylvia ran out the back door while they called after her and followed her at a slower pace because of their lack of shoes. As they struggle to slip on their slippers to follow their daughter, Sylvia is already halfway to the ship's original resting place.

“NOOO!” Sylvia screams at the top of her lungs, her chest constricted as she heaved and gasped for air as she choked on her own tears.

The ship was already quite far away from the ground and just like that, the twins were gone. Sylvia didn’t even get to say a proper goodbye. She thought she had more time. Sylvia was full on sprinting towards the now empty spot where the ship once sat, tears freely falling from her eyes, without thinking she grabs the closest rock and throws it up at the ship, it misses of course. Sylvia drops to her knees and watches the ship slowly disappear out of view as she sobs her heart out on the ground. She clenches her fists tightly and they begin to shake, her whole body is shaking when her parents slowly approach her from behind.

“Sylvia?” Derrick calls carefully, noticing her fists beginning to glow pink, he had never seen her do this and was growing concerned.

“No! No!” Sylvia cries as a pale pink force surrounds her entire body. She slams her fists down into the ground, sending large chunks of dirt flying, her fists were now in the ground. She punched holes in the ground. Sylvia pauses momentarily with tears still leaking from her eyes, she stares down at what she’s done and is at a loss for words and that’s when she notices Troy’s prosthetic arm lying in a dirt pile a short distance away from where the ship would’ve been. She leans forward and pulls it into her lap but Derrick comes over and gently takes it from her and she doesn’t protest against it.

“No…” The family hears someone say a short distance away, they all look up and see Typhon standing there, staring up at the sky. The ship was almost invisible at this point. “That’s the twins ain’t it?” He wonders aloud. 

“I’m afraid so,” Rosalyn confirms, kneeling down behind Sylvia, hugging her from behind while Sylvia drops her head and continues to cry. Derrick extends his arm out to hand Typhon his son’s arm, he takes it after a moment of staring at it. Typhon sighs and stares at the ground for another moment before spinning around and making his way back home without another word with his head hung in defeat.

  
*** * ***

  
“Get your ass in here Troy!” Tyreen hisses, pulling on her brother's jacket sleeve to get him to get into the ship so they could go. “We need to go!” She whisper shouted at him.

“Sylvia was coming too,” Troy bites back, yanking his sleeve away from his sister’s grasp. Tyreen scoffs with a smirk, her hand rested against her hip as she stuck it out.

“Sylvia backed out, Troy, she’s not coming. So let’s go.” Tyreen states confidently. Troy frowns at this and swallows the lump in his throat, he stands in the doorframe so Tyreen couldn’t shut him inside just yet, his eyes wander towards the direction Sylvia’s house was located.

“Are you sure? She told you that?” Troy asks, fidgeting with the zipper of his jacket. He was having a hard time fully believing his sister this time, why would Sylvia decide not to go and not tell him? He was so sure she was gonna come along with them.

“Yes, Troy. Let’s go.” Tyreen drops her packed bag into a corner and starts up the ship.

With a sigh, Troy chucks his bag beside Tyreen’s, he steals one last glance out into the distance but doesn’t see any sign of Sylvia. His eyebrows push together and Troy quickly disconnects his arm from his shoulder and throws it outside into the dirt before slamming the door closed behind him. “Let’s go, Ty.”

“With pleasure.” Troy sits beside her and shortly after, the two are on their way out of Nekrotafeyo. “Buh-bye Nekrota-fuck you!” She cackles once they’re out of the planet's orbit.

Troy was quiet and his eyes were glued to his lap, he couldn’t seem to shake this uneasy feeling he had deep within his gut. Something didn’t feel right, something definitely felt off – but now there was nothing he could do about it. He just hoped that he and Tyreen were making the right decision and that Sylvia also chose the best path for herself as well.


End file.
